Wiki Markup

 ( Wikipedia How-to ) 

Wiki markup is the syntax and keywords used by the MediaWiki software to format a page. To learn how to see this markup and to save an edit, see: Editing.

==Section headings==
     

     Headings organize your writing
into sections. The wiki software
can automatically generate a
     table of contents
from them. Start with 2 'equals'
("==") characters.
     

     

     
     
 

 Subsection
     
     

     
 
Using more 'equals' characters
creates a subsection.
     

     

     
     
 

 A smaller subsection
     
     

     
 
Don't skip levels, like from two
("==") to four ("====") 'equals'
characters.
     

     

     
A defined term
 A semicolon at the
     
start of a line is a way of making
a definition where the word being
defined appears in bold.
The definition itself follows the
colon and is not rendered bold by
default. It is not a heading and
does not appear in the table of
contents.

'''Horizontal line'''
Separating with a horizontal
dividing line:
:this is above it...
----
:...and this is below it.
If you don't use a section header,
you don't get a TOC entry.
     

• You can make the wikitext more readable by putting in newlines, but see Don't use line breaks for possible problems.
• To break lines use the <nowiki></nowiki> element. The HTML tag <nowiki></nowiki> will be converted to the XHTML <nowiki></nowiki> tag by HTML Tidy in most instances. The <nowiki></nowiki> tag is not converted when used in editnotices or in the MediaWiki namespace it will render invalid XHTML and will break tools such as Twinkle.
• Please use these sparingly.
• Close markup between lines; do not start a link or italics or bold on one line and close it on the next.
• When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (see List).

Template uses the same markup. To center a table, see Table#Centering tables.

* Unordered list are easy to do:
     

 

  

Start every line with a star.
  
  

   

More stars indicate a deeper level.
   
  
  

: Previous item continues.
  
  

A new line
  
 
 

in a list
 
     
marks the end of the list.
     

 

Of course you can start again.

# Numbered lists are:
     

 

  

Very organized
  
  

Easy to follow
  
 
 

: Previous item continues
 
     
A new line marks the end of the list.
     

 

New numbering starts with 1.

;Definition lists: Terms and their definitions.
     

     
Hamlet
 Also useful for texts of plays.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
     
 A stately pleasure-dome decree:
     
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
     
 Through caverns measureless to man
     
Down to a sunless sea.
     

So twice five miles of fertile ground
     
 With walls and towers were girdled round:
     
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
     
 Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
     
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
     
 Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
     
     

 A stately pleasure-dome decree:
     

 Through caverns measureless to man
     

 With walls and towers were girdled round:
     

 Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
     

 Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
     

 A stately pleasure-dome decree:
     

 Through caverns measureless to man
     

 A stately pleasure-dome decree:
     

 Through caverns measureless to man
     

To italicize text, just put
2 apostrophes on each side.
     

3 apostrophes will bold the text
     

5 apostrophes for bold italics
     

For text as small caps,
that uses a template.
     

A single newline has no
effect on the layout.
But an empty line starts a new
paragraph, or ends a list or
an indented part.
     

 std::cout <<"Hello World!";
 return 0;
     

You can break lines
without starting a new paragraph.

:A colon at the start of a line
::causes the line to be indented,
:::most commonly used on Talk pages.
     

Mr. Smith or 400 km/h.

<blockquote>
The '''blockquote''' tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.
</blockquote>
     

<div class="center" style="width:auto; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;">Centered text</div> 
     

New paragraph started here.

• See Special characters.

<poem style="margin-left:2em;">

function <code>int m2()</code> is nice

  – —
     

Use <small>small text</small> if needed.
A span tag can set text font-size as
being <span style="font-size:87%">87%
of prior size</span>, to match an
image caption.

• The Manual of Style prefers the Better not use <big>big text</big>, unless <small> it's <big>within</big> small</small> text. format.
• The latter methods of sub/superscripting cannot be used in the most general context, as they rely on Unicode support which may not be present on all users' machines. For the 1-2-3 superscripts, it is nevertheless preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it.

Mary {{pad|4em}} had a little lamb.

<tt>arrow      &amp;rarr;</tt>
<tt>''italics'', '''bold'''</tt>
<tt><nowiki>[[link]]

À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ
Ç È É Ê Ë
Ì Í Î Ï Ñ
Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø
Ù Ú Û Ü ß
à á â ã ä å æ ç
è é ê ë
ì í î ï ñ
ò ó ô õ ö ø œ
ù ú û ü ÿ

¿ ¡ § ¶
† ‡ • – —
‹ › « »
‘ ’ “ ”
' "
     

• See also WikiProject Mathematics and TeX.

[ { & } ]

• Formulae that include mathematical letters, like , and operators like should not use the plain letter x. See . For a comprehensive set of symbols, and comparison between tags and the template see section TeX vs HTML.

• The tag typesets using , which may render as an image or as HTML, depending on environmental settings. The &lt;math&gt; tag is best for the complex formula on its own line in an image format. If you use this tag to put a formula in the line with text, put it in the template.

• The template , and will size-match a serif font, and will also prevent line-wrap. All templates are sensitive to the = sign, so remember to replace = with in template input. Use wikimarkup <nowiki></nowiki> and <nowiki></nowiki> inside the template, as well other HTML entities. The template is best for typeset formulas in line with the text.

• Using &amp;nbsp; to prevent line break is not needed; the {{tl|math}} template will prevent line breaks anyway; you can use &lt;br/> if you need an explicit line break inside a formula.

™ © ® ¢ € ¥ 
£ ¤
     

• See Displaying a formula for how to use <math>.
• A formula displayed on a line by itself should probably be indented by using the colon (:) character.

x<sub>1</sub>

In Wikipedia's markup language, you create free links by putting double square brackets around text designating the title of the page you want to link to. Thus, <nowiki></nowiki> will be rendered as Texas. Optionally, you can use a vertical bar (|) to customize the link title. For example, typing <nowiki></nowiki> will produce Lone Star State, a link that is displayed as "Lone Star State" but in fact links to Texas.

• Internally, the first letter of the target page is automatically capitalized and spaces are represented as underscores (typing an underscore in the link has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended).
• Thus the link hereafter is to the Web address en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport, which is the Wikipedia article with the name "Public transport". See also Canonicalization.
• A red link is a page that doesn't exist yet; it can be created by clicking on the link.
• A link to its own page will appear only as bold text.

• Same target, different name.
• The target ("piped") text must be placed first, then the text to be displayed second.

• Simply typing the pipe character (|) after a link will automatically rename the link in certain circumstances. The next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. When previewing your edits, you will not see the expanded form until you press Save and Edit again. The same applies to links to sections within the same page.
• See Pipe trick for details.

• Endings are blended into the link.
• Exception: a trailing apostrophe (') and any characters following the apostrophe are not blended.
• Preferred style is to use this instead of a piped link, if possible.
• Blending can be suppressed by using the tag, which may be desirable in some instances.

• The part after the number sign (#) must match a section heading on the page. Matches must be exact in terms of spelling, case, and punctuation. Links to non-existent sections are not broken; they are treated as links to the top of the page.
• Include "| link title" to create a stylish () link title.
• If sections have the same title, add a number to link to any but the first. #Example section 3 goes to the third section named "Example section". You can use the pipe and retype the section title to display the text without the # symbol.

• To create a new page:
1. Create a link to it on some other (related) page.
2. Save that page.
3. Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing.
• For more information, see starting an article and check out Wikipedia's naming conventions.
• Please do not create a new article without linking to it from at least one other article.

• Redirect one article title to another by placing a directive like the one shown to the right on the first line of the article (such as at a page titled "USA").
• It is possible to redirect to a section. For example, a redirect to United States#History will redirect to the History section of the United States page, if it exists.

• To link to a corresponding page in another language, use the form: <nowiki></nowiki><em>language code</em>:<em>Foreign title</em><nowiki></nowiki>.
• It is recommended interlanguage links be placed at the very end of the article.
• Interlanguage links are not visible within the formatted article, but instead appear as language links on the sidebar (to the left) under the menu section "languages".
• For further help, please see Interlanguage links and the complete list of language wikis available.

NOTE: To create an inline link (a clickable link within the text) to any foreign language article, see Inline interlanguage links and consider the usage notes.

• Link to any page on other Wikimedia wikis.
• Note that interwiki links use the internal link style.
• See for the list of shortcuts; if the site you want to link to is not on the list, use an external link (see hereafter).
• See also Wikimedia sister projects.

• To put an article in a category, place a link like the one to the right anywhere in the article. As with interlanguage links, placing these links at the end of the edit box is recommended.
• To link to a category page without putting the article into the category, use a colon prefix (":Category") in the link.

• Square brackets indicate an external link. Note the use of a space (not a pipe) to separate the URL from the link text in the "named" link. Square brackets may be used as normal when not linking to anything like.
• An URL must begin with a supported URI scheme: http:// and https:// will be supported by all browsers; irc://, ircs://, ftp://, news://, mailto: and gopher:// will require a plugin or an external application. IPv6 addresses in URLs are currently not supported.
• An URL containing certain characters will display and link incorrectly unless those characters are encoded. For example, a space must be replaced by . Encoding can be achieved by:

*Use the link button on the enhanced editing toolbar to encode the link; this tool will add the bracket markup and the linked text, which may not always be desirable.

*Or manually encode the URL by replacing these characters:

• See External links for style issues, and External link file type templates for indicating the file type of an external link with an icon.

• "As of" tags like "As of April 2009" and "as of April 2009" categorize info that will need updating.

• To include links to non image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. For images, see next section.
• Some uploaded sounds are listed at .

• Link to books using their ISBN. This is preferred to linking to a specific online bookstore, because it gives the reader a choice of vendors. However, if one bookstore or online service provides additional free information, such as table of contents or excerpts from the text, then a link to that source will aid the user and is recommended. ISBN links do not need any extra markup, provided you use one of the indicated formats.
• To create a link to using alternative text (e.g. the book's title), use the internal link style with the appropriate namespace.

• Link to an Internet Engineering Task Force Request for Comments.

Refer to Manual of Style for more information.

A picture:
x<sub>1</sub> x<sub>2</sub> x<sub>3</sub> or 
x&amp;#8320; x&amp;#8321; x&amp;#8322; x&amp;#8323; x&amp;#8324; 
x&amp;#8325; x&amp;#8326; x&amp;#8327; x&amp;#8328; x&amp;#8329;
     

With alternative text:
x<sup>1</sup> x<sup>2</sup> x<sup>3</sup> or 
x&amp;#8304; x&amp;sup1; x&amp;sup2; x&amp;sup3; x&amp;#8308; 
x&amp;#8309; x&amp;#8310; x&amp;#8311; x&amp;#8312; x&amp;#8313;
     

With link:
&amp;epsilon;<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 &amp;times; 10<sup>&amp;minus;12</sup> C&amp;sup2; / J m
1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m&amp;sup2;]]
     

Floating to the right side of the page using the frame attribute and a caption:
α β γ δ ε ζ 
η θ ι κ λ μ ν 
ξ ο π ρ σ ς 
τ υ φ χ ψ ω 
Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ 
Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ 
Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ 
Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω 
     

Floating to the right side of the page using the thumb attribute and a caption:
∫ ∑ ∏ √ 
− ± ∞ 
≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ 
≤ ≥ 
× · ÷ ∂ 
′ ″ 
∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ 
ø 
∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ 
⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ 
¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ 
⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔ 
→ ↓ ↑ ← ↔ 
     

Floating to the right side of the page without a caption:
''

A picture resized to 30 pixels...
'''

Linking directly to the description page of an image:
<math>2x \times 4y \div 6z   8
   - \frac {y}{z^2} = 0</math>
{{crlf|}}
{{math|2x &amp;times; 4y &amp;divide;
6z   8 &amp;minus; {{Fraction
  |y|z<sup>2</sup>}} {{=}} 0}}
<math>\sin 2\pi x   \ln e\,\!</math>
<math>\sin 2\pi x   \ln e</math>
{{math|sin 2&amp;pi;''x''   ln ''e''}}
     

Linking directly to an image without displaying it:
It follows that {{math
|''x''<sup>2</sup> &amp;ge; 0}} is true when {{math|<VAR>x</VAR>}} is a real number.
     

: <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>
     

[[Texas]]

| Using wiki markup to make a table in which to place a vertical column of images (this helps edit links match headers, especially in Firefox browsers).

|}

See the Wikipedia's image use policy as a guideline used on Wikipedia.

For further help on images, including some more versatile abilities, see the .

• In special wiki-markup (see Table).
• Using HTML elements: <table>, <tr>, <td> or <th>.

See also When tables are appropriate.

Templates are segments of wiki markup that are meant to be copied automatically ("transcluded") into a page. You add them by putting the template's name in London has [[public transport]].. It is also possible to transclude other pages by using Link to this own article: "[[Help:Wiki markup]]" will appear only as bold text..

There are three pairs of tags that can be used in wikitext to control how transclusion affects parts of a template or article. They determine whether or not wikitext renders, either in its own article, which we will call "here", or in another article where it is transcluded, which we will call "there".

• New York also has [[public transport|public transportation]].: the content will not be rendered there. These tags have no effect here.
• [[kingdom (biology)|]]: the content will render only there , and will not render here (like invisible ink made visible by means of transclusion).
• [[Wikipedia:Village pump|]]: the content will render here and will render there, but it will only render there what is between these tags.

If a page is transcluded without transclusion markup, it may cause an unintentional categorization. Any page transcluding it will contain the same category as the original page. Wrap the category markup with A [[micro-]]<nowiki />second. tags to prevent incorrect categorization.

Some templates take parameters, as well, which you separate with the pipe character.

This template takes two parameters,
and creates underlined text with a
hover box for many modern browsers
supporting CSS:
     

 
 
Go to this page to see the H:title
template itself:
     

• The character tilde (~) is used when adding a comment to a Talk page.
• Your username provides a link to your user page.

• External link function is used for these.
• Open an old revision or diff and copy the URL from the address bar, pasting it where you want it.

• Link to a user's Contributions page.

• When editing regular Wikipedia articles, just make your changes and do not mark them up in any special way.
• When editing your own previous remarks in talk pages, it is sometimes appropriate to mark up deleted or inserted material.
• For striking out material, the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics|Italics]] is a piped link to a section within another page. markup is a less semantic element than The article about [[cardboard sandwiches]] doesn't exist yet..

Notes

The <s> element is listed as deprecated in HTML 4 but is used in HTML 5.

&<nowiki&> tag:
     

<nowiki>
The nowiki tag ignores wiki
     markup. It reformats text by
removing newlines and multiple
spaces. It still interprets
special characters: &rarr;
</nowiki>

&<pre&> tag:
     

<pre>The <pre> tag ignores wiki
     markup as does the <nowiki>
tag. Additionally, <pre> displays
in a mono-spaced font, and does
not  reformat    text    spaces.
It still interprets special
characters: &rarr;
</pre>

The <pre> tag ignores wiki
     markup as does the <nowiki>
tag. Additionally, <pre> displays
in a mono-spaced font, and does
not  reformat    text    spaces.
It still interprets special
characters: →

Text:
     

Single square brackets holding
text are
preserved, but single square
brackets containing a URL are
treated as being an external
      Web link.

Leading space:
     

Leading spaces are another way
to preserve formatting.
     
Putting a space at the
beginning of each line
stops the text   from
being reformatted.
It still interprets [[wiki]] ''markup'' and special characters: →
     

Putting a space at the
beginning of each line
stops the text   from
being reformatted.
It still interprets [[wiki]] ''markup'' and special characters: →
     

(Although in this particular case you'd probably prefer to use Alternative markup: <nowiki></nowiki> to create a link: )

A singular can be used to break wikimarkup.

• Markup such as , , and only and always take effect at the beginning of a line. A before the markup will cause the characters to not parse as markup.
• An internal link immediately followed by characters are blended to form a single link. Where this is not desired, add a after the link.

HTML entities

and  parse [[Character encodings in HTML|HTML entities]]. If you want to escape this, replace <nowiki></nowiki> with &.
     

Use in templates

When used in a template, simply does not work as you may expect.

• Including immediately acts upon the enclosed markup. Attempting to escape or transclude the brackets causes to not work at all.
• Using works, but has major limitations:
• Templates, parameters, parser functions, and parser magic such as signatures are parsed, not nowikied.
• Included tags will expose the strip markers.

is a parser tag that emulates the HTML  tag. It defines preformatted text that is displayed in a fixed-width font and is enclosed in a dashed box. HTML and wiki markups are escaped and spaces and line breaks are preserved, but HTML entities are parsed.
     

formatted text does not wrap, thus text may extend past the browser window:
     

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

To resolve this, may use CSS styling to add wrapping or a horizontal scrollbar:

Since this involves quite a bit of markup, the template is useful.

#REDIRECT [[United States#History]]
     

Another way to include a comment in the wiki markup uses the template, which can be abbreviated as . This template "expands" to the empty string, generating no html output; it is visible only to people editing the wiki source. Thus operates similarly to the comment <!-- A lengthy comment here-->. The main difference is that the template version can be nested, while attempting to nest HTML comments produces odd results.

NUMBEROFARTICLES is the number of pages in the main namespace which contain a link and are not a redirect, in other words number of articles, stubs containing a link, and disambiguation pages.

CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN is the genitive (possessive) grammatical form of the month name, as used in some languages; CURRENTMONTHNAME is the nominative (subject) form, as usually seen in English.

In languages where it makes a difference, you can use constructs like <nowiki></nowiki> to convert a word from the nominative case to some other case. For example, <nowiki></nowiki> means the same as <nowiki></nowiki>.